"Gababa! Hive Island isn't far from Elbaf," Brogy said with a cheerful grin. "You can always visit again whenever you want."
Ian nodded lightly.
"I have a request," he said. "Can I hire a group of warriors from the Giant Kingdom?"
After all, in the original story, Hajrudin could work for Buggy, so what's wrong with hiring a group of giant warriors to serve as subordinates?
"Of course, no problem!"
Dorry responded without a second thought. "Kekekekeke, in fact, among the young ones in Elbaf right now, there are plenty who would be willing to follow you!"
"Gababa! That's right!"
Brogy laughed heartily. "You single-handedly defeated nearly all the strong warriors of the kingdom. That strength is already engraved in everyone's hearts!"
A smile crept up on Ian's face.
So the challenges faced along the way weren't just side effects, huh?
Indeed, for the battle-crazed giant race, strength was definitely the most worthy trait to follow!
"Now the question is, Ian," Dorry said with a smile. "How many are you planning to recruit?"
He wasn't worried at all that the giant warriors would face any mistreatment once they joined Ian's ranks.
After all, this was the righteous Ian!
Their close friend.
Ian casually said, "Whatever amount there is, I want that much."
Do you understand how much wealth the Beasts Pirates have?
They could buy the entire Giant Kingdom if the Giants were willing to sell.
"As expected of Ian! Such ambition!"
Brogy laughed, tears at the corner of his eyes. "Then let us help you get in touch with them. Many warriors are eager to follow you!"
"Then, I truly appreciate it."
Ian said sincerely.
"Heh-heh-heh! No need to say thanks, buddy!"
These two truly saw him as a brother.
At that moment.
Brrr-Brrr-Brrr.
The sound of a transponder snail suddenly rang out.
Ian raised an eyebrow and pulled out the transponder snail to answer.
"Ian!!"
The excited voice of Morgans came from the other end. "The Golden Lion has started moving!!"
Ian's expression suddenly became serious.
The scene shifts back several hours. In the East Blue, at the Kingdom of Bridges, Tequila Wolf.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't really a kingdom.
It was a bridge that had been under construction for seven hundred years.
The World Government, dissatisfied with the fragmented state of the world and its difficulty to control, came up with the ridiculous idea of building a bridge that would connect all the islands of the world.
This bridge was the Kingdom of Bridges.
To construct this bridge, the World Government had been sending slaves here since seven hundred years ago—some were criminals from allied nations sentenced to slavery, others were slaves captured from non-allied nations with no rights.
Once sent here, they were condemned to labor as slaves for generations.
For seven hundred years, this bridge had been under construction, but it was still far from the World Government's goal of connecting the entire world. The bridge hadn't even reached beyond the East Blue yet.
Today, the slaves on the bridge were still diligently working.
The overseers in charge of them never showed any mercy.
The sudden change came at this very moment.
A dark cloud suddenly appeared in the sky.
The slaves working on the bridge and the overseers supervising their labor all looked up in surprise.
The dark clouds above were rapidly expanding, and a sharp, piercing wind sound came from the sky, as if something was falling.
Then, one by one, everyone who had looked up froze in place.
It was an island.
A massive island, several kilometers in size, was falling from the sky.
"Wahhh!!"
Screams erupted one after another, spreading across the kingdom of this bridge.
Whether they were slaves, overseers, or guards, everyone's reaction at this moment was the same.
Run.
Run away quickly!!
But now, where could they run to?
Boom!!
A few seconds later, the massive island crashed down with a thunderous roar, directly smashing into the bridge.
The end of the bridge, which had taken seven hundred years to build, instantly shattered, triggering a chain reaction and causing more sections of the bridge to collapse.
The unstoppable island fell into the sea, creating monstrous waves that seemed to shake the very earth.
The entire sea seemed to flip over, as mud from the ocean's depths was forced to the surface.
Tidal waves, hundreds or even thousands of meters high, spread out in all directions, threatening to swallow every island in the surrounding seas.
Disaster.
This was a terrifying disaster.
But it wasn't a natural disaster.
"Hehehehehe!"
In the sky, the flying lion laughed loudly, "This is just the beginning! Feel the terror of the Golden Lion!!"
Giant Kingdom.
"The Golden Lion has destroyed the Kingdom of Bridges. The giant wave caused by the island's fall has submerged several surrounding islands! That guy declared war on the World Government through all the major newspapers!"
Morgan's voice on the other end of the phone was almost manic. "He says next, he's going to destroy the entire East Blue! He plans to sink all the countries in the East Blue into the deep sea!"
Ian felt a headache coming on.
So soon?
Can't you wait a few more years, Golden Lion!
I was hoping you'd help divert the government's attention for a while.
Now this is really a big mess. Golden Lion is going to become the target of everyone's anger.
The East Blue is going to get very lively.
Ian hung up the phone and turned to his two good friends.
"It looks like I'll have to trouble you to recruit more people," Ian said. "I'm heading to the East Blue next."
"Ga-ba-ba-ba-ba! Go ahead, Ian, leave it to us here!"
His two good friends were as reliable as ever.
With that, Ian didn't hesitate anymore. He immediately gathered his companions and set off for the East Blue.
Just like when he once pursued the Golden Lion, he transformed into the Golden Dragon and flew across the skies of the New World, holding onto a large ship.
His destination was the end of the New World, the back side of Reverse Mountain.
Once there, he would be able to cross over and head straight to the East Blue.
As he flew over the skies of the latter half of the New World, he immediately caught the attention of the Whitebeard Pirates.
They thought the Beast Pirates were about to start a war with them.
However, Ian didn't stop for a moment and just flew straight ahead.
As Ian made his move, Golden Lion's actions naturally caused a huge stir worldwide.
Mariejois.
The Five Elders were immediately enraged.
"Have the Navy deploy all available forces to the East Blue! Crush that bastard Shiki into dust!"
The Four Seas are the World Government's core!
Shiki must not be allowed to run rampant!
Somewhere in the world, at the Revolutionary Army's headquarters.
"We can't just sit back and watch!"
The man who embodied the fierce winds was equally furious.
"The slaves of the Kingdom of Bridges have already suffered generations of misfortune, and Shiki actually killed them! Now he even plans to attack the East Blue. We must stop him!"
"Kuma! We're going to the East Blue!!"
East Blue, Goa Kingdom, Windmill Village.
"Sorry, Uta," Red-Haired Shanks tightened the newspaper in his hand.
"Our journey to Elegia has to be delayed a bit!"
"There's something more important we need to do next."
Somewhere in the Grand Line, a coffin-like ship was moving swiftly.
"Shiki, huh?"
On the ship, a man with eagle-like sharp eyes curled his lips into a grin.
"The most famous swordsman of the previous era. I've been wanting to meet him for a while."
**********
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